Nieuws: R290LC-7A Long Reach offloads river barges
U bevindt zich hier: Home › Nieuws & Pers › Producten › R290LC-7A Long Reach offloads river barges
Nick Walsh: "my operators love the Hyundai machines and if they are happy then productivity is maximised and then we are all happy!"
When Sean Walsh started out in the plant game back in 1968 times were tough. His first machine was an International BTD6 dozer which he hired out to his customers at the time for just £2 per hour, man and machine. From humble beginnings in those early days Sean explains that they had grown hugely and now the company, S Walsh and Sons Ltd, based in East Horndon, Essex, is one of the largest of its type and is run by his sons, Nick and Richard.
The business has centered around the construction industry, civil engineering projects, utilities contracts and plant hire and recently they purchased a local building company, W A Hills, to add to their portfolio. But of late, being ideally placed in the Thames gateway, the company has moved heavily into recycling.
Sean indicates that the machines he purchases have to work in harsh environments and reliability is paramount to his operation. Since 1981 Sean has dealt with Andy Parnham at Ernest Doe and after purchasing his first Hyundai in 1987 he has purchased many Hyundai machines over the years, mainly 21 tonne 210 LC-7A models, and currently runs seven units.
However the latest Hyundai to join the fleet is somewhat different. Weighing in at a mighty 32 tonnes, and with a reach of 18.4m, the 290 LC-7A has been purchased for one specific job, to offload spoil from river barges on the wharf at Pitsea.
Walsh runs five washing plants in and around London which recycle waste material for use back into the construction chain. For example, soil, concrete waste, building waste etc is delivered to the washing plants and from this, via a cleaning process, the material is sorted and graded in order to end up with a reusable material such as sand, gravel, crushed concrete, aggregate etc. The by-product of this process is a fine material which is used as a sub-base at the Pitsea landfill site.
This material makes its journey to Pitsea from the Victoria Deep Dock in London (where the washing plant is located), down the River Thames. Here the material is unloaded from the barges by the mighty Hyundai 290. Nick Walsh explains that the machine has been ideal for this job. “Initially we scratched our heads as to how the barges, which each hold 350 tonnes of material, could be unloaded” says Nick, “but with the help of Andy Parnham at Ernest Doe and some careful calculations we decided to purchase the Hyundai. In fact the machine has outperformed our expectations and we can unload four barges in situ at the wharf side at any one time.”
Asking Nick why Hyundai? He replies, “That’s easy, past experience for reliability, fuel economy, low running costs and value for money. But probably more importantly is driver comfort and preference - my operators love the Hyundai machines and if they are happy then productivity is maximised and then we are all happy!” … Pleasure works!
